Compliance & Regulation
Beckwith ruling “failed to deliver clarity” on lawyers’ private lives
The High Court’s much-debated ruling on former Freshfields partner Ryan Beckwith “does little to offer any useful clarity” on the boundary between solicitors’ professional and personal lives, a white paper has argued. The paper, produced by regulation specialists at City… Read More
Solicitor and unadmitted wife reprimanded over work on client files
A former solicitor who had access to the files of matters he had referred to his conveyancing manager wife has been given the lowest-level sanction by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal
High-profile City litigator struck off for misusing client money
A high-profile City litigator has been struck off for using a client’s divorce settlement to fund his ventures to pursue digital dispute resolution. A tribunal rejected his claim that the client had agreed to it.
SRA “needs to monitor” enforcement staff more closely
The Solicitors Regulation Authority spends too much time on diversity training and monitoring, and not enough on assuring that its enforcement staff act in a non-biased way, it has been claimed.
Solicitor who submitted false oath agrees to leave profession
A former partner at a Yorkshire law firm who submitted a false statement to the probate court as part of the oath for executors has agreed to leave the profession.
SDT clears pro-Beijing lawyer over “kill protestors” allegation
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has rejected allegations that a pro-Beijing lawyer and politician based in Hong Kong called for pro-independence protestors to be “killed mercilessly”.
Law Society president steps down ahead of SDT hearing
The president of the Law Society is to step down later this month in the wake of a High Court ruling that the SDT was wrong to dismiss a prosecution brought against him by a former client.
Legal aid fraud solicitor fails to set aside £5m judgment
A solicitor and her practice manager husband jailed for legal aid fraud have failed in their bid to set aside a default judgment for nearly £5m obtained by the Ministry of Justice.
City firm avoids order to pay out escrow funds due to prosecution risk
A major City law firm should not be ordered to pay into court $325m it is holding in an escrow account, because it risks being prosecuted in America if it does, the High Court has ruled.
Solicitor who “did not know” he was a partner is rebuked
A solicitor who said he did not know that he had been appointed a partner and compliance officer for legal practice (COLP) of his firm has been rebuked.
Blog
The new metrics for success in conveyancing
While technology has made much of the conveyancing process faster, there remains a practical limit to how many matters anyone can manage while still keeping standards intact.
The UK legal market is polarising – and the middle is disappearing
Consolidation and the boutique boom are not contradictory. They are the same market stretching apart at both ends – and it changes what your firm is worth, and to whom.
Conveyancing’s consistency problem is about pressure, not skills
When I qualified, a conveyancer had perhaps 10 or 12 plates to keep spinning. Today’s conveyancers have 20 or 30, and almost none of the room for error I had starting out.
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